Shortlist

Swallows and Armenians at Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery

Historical Event, Thu 21 Mar 2019, free entry

Swallows and Armenians

Details

Artist, curator and writer Karen Babayan takes us on an adventure through the Arthur Ransome Archive in this lunchtime talk.

Discover the unexpected inspiration for Arthur Ransome’s well-loved Swallows and Amazons. Through new multi-disciplinary artworks, Karen Babyan explores the relationship between Ransome and the Altounyans, an Anglo-Armenian family from Aleppo, Syria. This ethnically diverse family were part of the genesis for his iconic series of children’s books.

Babayan's work includes an Artist’s Map-Book commissioned by Leeds University Library Special Collections.

She aims to establish the Altounyan-Swallows-Ransome connection and celebrate the contribution of the Altounyan family to the cultural history of the Lake District.